A Healthy Stance On Privacy And Security When It Comes To Healthcare APIs

10 May 2016

I am reading through the API task force recommendations out of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), to help address privacy and security concerns around mandated API usage as part of the Common Clinical Data Set, Medicare, and Medicaid Electronic Health Records. The recommendations contain a wealth of valuable insights around healthcare APIs but are also full of patterns that we should be applying across other sectors of our society where APIs making an impact. To help me work through the task force's recommendations, I will be blogging through many of the different concepts at play.

Beyond the usage of "patient-directed APIs" that I wrote about earlier, I thought the pragmatic view on API privacy and security was worth noting. When it comes to making data, content, and other digital resources available online, I hear the full spectrum of concerns, and it leaves me optimistic to hear government agencies speak about security and privacy in such a balanced way.

Here is a section from the API task force recommendations:

Like any technology, APIs allow new capabilities and opportunities and, like any other technology, these opportunities come with some risks. There are fears that APIs may open new security vulnerabilities, with apps accessing patient records "for evil", and without receiving proper patient authorization. There are also fears that APIs could provide a possible "fire hose" of data as opposed to the "one sip at a time" access that a web site or email interface may provide.

In testimony, we heard almost universally that, when APIs are appropriately managed, the opportunities outweigh the risks. We heard from companies currently offering APIs that properly managed APIs provide better security properties than ad-hoc interfaces or proprietary integration technology.

The document is full of recommendations on how to strike this balance. It is refreshing to hear such a transparent vision of what APIs can be. They weigh the risks, alongside the benefits that APIs bring to the table while also being fully aware that a "properly managed API" provides its own security. Another significant aspect of these recommendations for me is that they also touch on the role that APIs will play in the regulatory and a compliance process.

I have to admit, the area of healthcare APIs isn't one of the most exciting stacks in the over 50 areas I track on across the API space, but I'm fully engaged with this because of the potential of a blueprint for privacy and security that can be applied with other types of APIs. When it comes to social, location, and other data the bar has been set pretty low when it comes to privacy and security, but health care data is different. People tend to be more concerned with access, security, privacy, and all the things we should already be discussing when it comes to the rest of our digital existence--opening the door for some valuable digital literacy discussions.

Hopefully, I don't run you off with all my healthcare API stories, and you can find some gems in the healthcare API task force's recommendations, like I am.